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Locust Ring Shake

Randy Anderson

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Last year I got a good bit of black locust. Almost all of it had serious ring shake so only able to get few pieces out of it. Had to burn the rest. I now have a few honey locust being taken down just down from my house. I cut 4 good sized pieces yesterday (14" + dia) but started pouring rain so couldn't load up to bring home. Went back today and some serious end checking and ring shake already visible. Is ring shake common in locust? Two more trees, larger, coming down this week so will try again but if it's the nature of the beast then not sure I want to mess with it. The thorns make it a challenge already so not sure worth the hassle.
 
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don't know about others by I had several nice chunks of honey locust give to me over a year ago. I only have one left but none of the others or the piece I have left have any ring shake.
 
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Honey locust and black locust trees are quite different. I like black locust but honey locust not quite so much.

Shake is a bacteria inflection. Most often seen in trees that have there feet in lots of water and fertilizer.....yard trees.

I run a sawmill and seldom see shake in black locust. Don't saw much honey locust as I can't sell it, so not sure if shake is common.
 
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There is one variation of Honey Locust, which is a hybrid and doesn't have the thorns, 10+ inches long, that the wild version has. I have turned some of the hybrid and it is nice, and never noticed ring shake in it or any of the black locust I have turned. Never had any of the wild honey locust.

robo hippy
 

Randy Anderson

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This was wild. Heavily covered in the long thick thorns. Was tricky moving around to not step on one on the ground or reach out, lean into one of them. Temp in the mid 90s. The guys clearing the lot were not delicate. They set them aside from the huge burn pile for me as I asked but really mangled them in the process. Hard to be delicate with a bulldozer I guess. I was able to get 7 decent pieces 8-10" in dia. The largest tree was well over 20" in dia but they destroyed, mangled and split the main trunk in taking it down. Oh well, I got what I could that wasn't roughed up too bad. Sealed right away and will work some soon. No ring shake in the pieces I got, yet.
 
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Have not turned any Honey Locust but have cleared two trees on a property we had 30 years ago. Got a flat on the mower every time I got within 20 feet so decided I had to cut them. Just went after them with the saw used the saw to clear enough thorns so I could move the logs. Saved some for firewood and the rest in a burn pile. No lathe at that time.
 
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I have heard that those thorns will go through tractor tires.... The wild life love the seed pods. I have even heard that some one made beer from the seeds as they are supposed to be sweet...

robo hippy
 
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Those thorns will go through tractor tires, at least front tires. Never had one go through a rear tire, but lots of them try before breaking off. Also go through soles of work boots easily. Don't even try to work honey locust with tennis shoes, you'll pay the price.

Growing up, we cut honey locust for firewood. After dropping a tree, spent lots of time with machete clearing thorns before cutting it up or splitting it. By the age of 12, I was very proficient in fixing flat tires from locust thorns.
 
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I have turned both Black Locust quite a bit, the largest Honey Locust was over 3 feet at the base, though the bottom 3 feet was made into lace like by Ants who moved out when the tree was cut down, talk about stink, it was pretty bad, and the acid of the Ants turned the wood black all around that part.

Still got a better than 22” bowl out of it, picture showing it.
22"+ Honey Locust Bowl.jpg


As for ring or wind shake, I have never seen it in either Black or Honey Locust.

Almost all of the Honey locust was turned from Honey Locust without the spines on them.

These are planted a lot over here, they are cloned from sport Honey Locust that doe happen at times without the thorns, we had one just over at a neighbor that did have the large beans on it but no thorns, planting those seeds would give you both types with and without thorns, so cloning is the way to be sure you get a Honey Locust without the spines.

Here’s info on the Honey Locust.

No spine Honey Locust.jpg
 

Randy Anderson

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Turned two 9" natural edge this morning. No ring shake and all seems solid, bark stayed in place so hoping other pieces work as well. Wish I could have gotten some bigger pieces. That's a very nice bowl and color Leo. Would have been able to get some like it out of the main trunk but, bulldozers eliminated that opportunity and the thick covering of thorns made it not worth the risk to climb up into the pile and try.
 
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Thank You Randy, too bad you were unable to get to the main trunk, Honey Locust is a nice turning wood, I always like turning it.

The color is a bit more yellow than what it shows in the picture, here is one with the staining from the acid of the Ants, color is much more actual on my monitor at least :).

Ant acid stain on Honey Locust.jpg
 
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